WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 26th November, 2021) The United States will decide on whether to ban travel from South Africa over the danger of a new COVID-19 variant as soon as it collects enough data, top US infectious disease official Dr. Anthony Fauci told CNN.
The US is in active communication with South African colleague scientists, he noted. When asked whether the new strain has already reached the US, Fauci replied that "anything is possible" but "there is no indication that it has right now."
"There is always a possibility of doing what the UK has done, namely blocking travel from South Africa and related countries ... We are prepared to do everything you need to do to protect the American public and but you wanna make sure there is a basis for doing that and that's what we are doing right now," Fauci said on Friday.
The new COVID-19 variant, known as B.1.1.529, has more mutations to the "spike protein" than past variants, meaning that it could hamper the body's immune response and spread more easily. It was initially discovered in South Africa. Later it was diagnosed among two travelers in Hong Kong's Regal Airport Hotel.
UK Health Secretary Sajid Javid added southern African countries to the national "red" list on Friday for fear that the B.1.1.529 variant might have already spread across the border. It reportedly has 50 mutations, with more than 30 on its spike protein, which is the target of most vaccines.
